Olivier, last week Goia and Fuster were supposed to enter the squad. Now they seem to be gone. I'm just informing, because I've seen analysis of the team in Americas Rugby News and some other Canadian website that took the list from two weeks ago and that's not the team they're going to face.

I may be overcautious, but our guys aren't. Santiago Santos and Jaime Nava took part in a press conference to present Generali sponsorship and basically they aren't even thinking about play-off or repechage. They target playing the inaugural game of 2019 RWC just because of the huge media coup it would mean for Spanish rugby. Yeah, that Europe 1 spot. What strikes me is that Santos says both games against Russia and Romania will be decided by few points... and that means missing bonus points, which would favor Romania's chances

Well, and Nava even said they are looking at ways of how to reach quarterfinals. Yes, this comes from the captain of a team that has only qualified once for a RWC and left it tryless. If we dream, we dream big.

Armchair Fan wrote:Well, and Nava even said they are looking at ways of how to reach quarterfinals. Yes, this comes from the captain of a team that has only qualified once for a RWC and left it tryless. If we dream, we dream big.

Bogdan_DC wrote:Nava will gonna play hooker?Or is not him in the picture?

It's nearly the onlyplace he hasn't played yet for Spain...

amz wrote:

Armchair Fan wrote:Well, and Nava even said they are looking at ways of how to reach quarterfinals. Yes, this comes from the captain of a team that has only qualified once for a RWC and left it tryless. If we dream, we dream big.

Barça and Independiente were two of the teams who hired more people this summer. Barça seems to have a project for the next three years. Independiente not so much, its performance has fluctuated pending on sponsorship and the quality of players coming from Argentina. And now they've got an elephant in the house with Bathco, their former title sponsor, bankrolling the other team in Santander. Basically a region with less than 600 registered players wants two clubs in Liga Heineken and both of them relying on foreign players...

Alcobendas may surprise one Valladolid team as they did with VRAC last year in Copa del Rey, but I find it hard to see them do with both and in two weeks in a row as it would be necessary in playoffs.

Liga Heineken is doing remarkable well from streams point of view; the broacasts are at slightly different hours meaning you can watch more and on Sundays, not overlapping with other more established events in European Rugby.

Congratulation to the Spanish 7s team: They played a great World Series tournament at the Dubai 7s 2017 beating Argentinia et cetera. On one hand I'm not surprised because they always had beaten the German 7s team in the last matches including the final in the Hong Kong qualification tournament that' all right...so we lost against a team which is doing pretty well at the World Series We dreams of reaching such a level und such results.

But I was surprised in May 2017 when they played unsuccessful World Series tournaments in Paris and especially in London. What had happened?

amz wrote:Liga Heineken is doing remarkable well from streams point of view; the broacasts are at slightly different hours meaning you can watch more and on Sundays, not overlapping with other more established events in European Rugby.

An unintended consequence, to be honest. It's a long time since regulations say Sunday kick-off times must be between 12:00 and 13:30.

Boudewijn Vertonghen wrote:Congratulation to the Spanish 7s team: They played a great World Series tournament at the Dubai 7s 2017 beating Argentinia et cetera. On one hand I'm not surprised because they always had beaten the German 7s team in the last matches including the final in the Hong Kong qualification tournament that' all right...so we lost against a team which is doing pretty well at the World Series We dreams of reaching such a level und such results.

But I was surprised in May 2017 when they played unsuccessful World Series tournaments in Paris and especially in London. What had happened?

Thanks. The explanation for what happened in Paris and London is pretty simple. These tournaments clashed with national league play-offs (quarterfinals and semifinals, particularly involving Madrid and Valladolid teams), so clubs were reluctant to release players. And some players involved with 2016 Olympics and 2017 Hong Kong 7s retired right after or focused on their jobs. So we sent to Paris and London basically who was available with barely any training.

After European GPS and the third place clinched there, some Olympic grants were guaranteed for the season, so a decent planning for Sevens World Series could be put in place. Players yesterday at Dubai trained for a month in high altitude (Sierra Nevada), played at Oktoberfest and Elche 7s and arrived earlier to UAE thanks to an exchange with the local union (some shared training sessions for free accomodation). Even a 13th player has been allowed to go with the team as a reserve, which was really rare some years back.

I hadn't got too much time before, so just to give you more info: out of the 14 players used in Paris and London only 5 (Genua, Pla, Fontes, Carter, Sainz-Trapaga) made it to Dubai. And only a couple more are among the 18 players (more or less) Feijóo is thinking about for the whole season.

Basically the core of players is the 12 that played this weekend, Marcos Poggi who comes back after an injury and went as reserve, Lucas Levy (knee injury at Oktoberfest 7s, expected to play in Oceania rounds), Iñaki Villanueva (focusing on his job right now, will have to make a choice between XV and 7s in January), Rafa de Santiago, Ignacio Rodríguez-Guerra and Josh Taylor. That means that in 15-18 months we've lost no less than 6 players (Feijóo, Sempere, Tudela, Rolls, Losada, López), but hey, as long as youngsters adapt quickly (Alonso played in Dubai and is only 19) and injuries don't hamper too much, we could have a chance to stay as core team. But this is a long-run game and I'm sure we're going to score a few one-pointers this season.

--

Amazing end in the El Salvador-Alcobendas game, including an incredible mistake by the referee

Armchair Fan wrote:- Senor Independiente victory over UE Santboiana in Week 1 has been appealed because after three yellow cards in last 10 minutes Independiente fell below the minimum number of players eligible for national team. It's suppose to be 6 at anytime, but as always in Spain rules are written in a bizarre way.

This is an absolute bizarre appeal. I mean the players are technically still playing, but took the position in the sin bin

Armchair Fan wrote:As I said, rules are written in a bizarre way. Instead of rewriting an article, it seems they've been amended and reamended a certain number of times and end up not having any meaning... or having multiple possible meanings at the same time. I'll translate it and you'll see how crazy it is: "During all the time a game of this competition is in play the maximum number of players "not locally formed" that will be allowed on the pitch will be 9. This number shall not be exceeded even in the event of replacements or ejections, whether temporary or definitive, having the team to play with, if it's the case and it was necessary to, less players than those initially permitted. That means that on the pitch there must be at least 6 "locally formed" players".

All the article says what you say, but the last sentence implies there must be 6 eligible players at anytime. As if in a xenophobic way rules only predicted foreign players can be sent off

Remember this? Santboiana lost the appeal and Independiente kept the win. Well, the other Santander team (Bathco Rugby Club, former CR Santander, currently trying to be promoted to Liga Heineken) was believed to be caught infringing that very same rule by Zarautz. And this appeal was lost too. Why? Zarautz said it was impossible Niels van de Ven, a Saffa-born Netherlands-capped player, and Romain Mercadal, French-born and arrived this season, could be considered eligible players... Wrong

Even though he can't represent Spain any more, Van de Ven is deemed eligible because he spent four years in a row before age 22 playing in Catalan clubs. And Mercadal found papers proving his grandfather was born in Sevilla in the middle of the season

That's how Bathco got a free out-of-jail card in spite of fielding only four Spanish players in their starting XV.

Armchair Fan wrote:And Mercadal found papers proving his grandfather was born in Sevilla in the middle of the season

Classic! In German we say that probably an ancestor had a German shepherd dog and that's enough to qualify What is it in Spain, his ancestors drank some Spanish wine

In ceterum censeo, that this whole Spanish league thing is unbelievable impressive. Lets face it: this is the new/additional Georgia/ Romania in a few years. Maybe even more healthy with that participation numbers AND attendace figures. All signs say growth.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

There is growth, but it's still to be seen whether it's sustainable. There are worrying signs too. Basically one third of the games are undisputed because of the huge gap between teams and newly-promoted teams only buy a chance of avoiding relegation by hiring a full starting XV from Argentina. We still see players being hired in November or December, depending on how the league started or whether a new sponsor was found. And TV ratings suck so far.

Armchair Fan wrote:There is growth, but it's still to be seen whether it's sustainable. There are worrying signs too. Basically one third of the games are undisputed because of the huge gap between teams and newly-promoted teams only buy a chance of avoiding relegation by hiring a full starting XV from Argentina. We still see players being hired in November or December, depending on how the league started or whether a new sponsor was found. And TV ratings suck so far.

If the best team beats the worst like this: VRAC Quesos Entrepinares 50 - 14 Getxo Artea, the mismatch is not something to really worry about. Yeah, the Argentinians are an important addition, but still, this looks very positive overall.

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

This year Copa del Rey quarterfinals were ditched so we could have enough spare weekends for REC 2018 and semifinals spots were decided by some Liga Heineken games. We've got semifinals now and there's a chance a local final could be repeated in 2018:

Armchair Fan wrote:Amazing end in the El Salvador-Alcobendas game, including an incredible mistake by the referee

Well, I don't think it's the best advertisement for Spanish rugby, but it has reached over 40,000 views on YouTube and been posted on Facebook too. General impressions seem to be amusement and encouragement among Anglosaxons, hate and laughter by Italians and unanimous disapproval with refereeing. By the way, the ref already tweeted that he wished he could have used TMO...

On Iona and being ruled unfit in France, I remember both Steve Thompstone and Juan Figallo had similar things then had reasonably long pro careers in England afterwards. Its always a bit odd I presume it must be something to do with French insurance law?